Nanxun district in Huzhou, Zhejiang province is currently home to two provincial-level hidden champions and 10 city-level hidden champions, according to official data.

A hidden champion is a small but successful company that is largely unknown to the public.

These companies are very powerful in driving the local economy despite their small scale, said a high-ranking official in the district's bureau of development, reform, economic and information technology.

According to the official, Huzhou Mingshuo Optoelectronic Technology Co, a national high-tech company specializing in graphene composite materials, is one such company in the district.

Last year, the annual production value of the company surpassed 100 million yuan ($14.2 million), up 74.7 percent year-on-year, contributing nearly 14 million yuan to the district's tax revenue.

In recent years, the district has been investing an increasing amount of money into research and development, technology upgrading, and systematic innovation in an effort to help develop more promising companies.

In 2018, the total expenditure on research and development in Nanxun district accounted for 2.81 percent of the district's gross domestic product. The number of patents per 10,000 people has increased by 210% from 8.53 in 2015 to 26.46 in 2018.